Worldwide Sports News

Man, the AL East could be wild this year. Outside of the Rays, it isn’t hard to see any team winning it. And let’s face it: it’s never a good idea to overlook the Rays.

So how do you see the strongest division in baseball shaking out? I change my mind on this nearly every day. Today, it’s hard for me to overlook the high-end talent at the top of the Yankees roster. I’m convinced that the Orioles will have a bounce-back season and I liked their offseason moves, but I’m thoroughly unconvinced of their pitching depth. The Blue Jays will regress, I think, but they have enough talent to stay in contention all year.

As of today, I’ll go with:

1. Yankees
2. Orioles
3. Red Sox
4. Blue Jays
5. Rays

Ask me again this afternoon and I may have changed my mind.

The San Diego Padres had a banner day on the baseball field on Monday. They came back from a 5-1 deficit with a six-run bottom of the eighth inning. That was great, but not necessarily the big story. That honor went to a perfect usage of the new ABS challenge system. Catcher Freddy Fermin had three calls overturned from balls to strikes with the system. Two calls were at the bottom of the strike zone, and one was at the top. Ethan Salas followed suit when he replaced Fermin and had one call overturned. Jose Miranda completed the challenges when he got a called strike overturned to a ball resulting in a walk in the six-run eighth. The system seemed to held the home plate umpire accountable for his calls and worked just as was described by Major League Baseball.

Padres News:

• Randy Vasquez looked sharp in his first action of Spring Training against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. He allowed one hit and walked one in two scoreless innings. Lincoln Zdunich of Gaslamp Ball thinks that could be a preview of a big season from Vasquez as he looks to solidify his position in the rotation and on the San Diego roster.
• Joe Musgrove returning after a lost season after Tommy John surgery. Luis Campusano looking to prove he can compete at the major league level. Nick Castellanos changing positions while trying to show he has more in the tank after being released by the Philadelphia Phillies. These are just a few of the players AJ Cassavell of Padres.com says are the most important to watch this spring.
• Garrett Hawkins impressed at the lower levels of the Padres system and now has his sights set on making the big-league roster with San Diego. The roster spots available for position players is tight as well due what appears to be a surprising amount of depth according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
• JP Sears struggled in his first spring outing and did not get through the first inning and Miguel Andujar hit his first home run in a Padres uniform in an eventful day on and around the diamond in Peoria, Ariz., which included an early morning meeting to discuss MLBPA business.
• Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune gives a progress report for the Padres to discuss the financials of the team as well as the importance of additions to the roster.
• The Padres designated outfielder Tirso Ornelas for assignment on Feb. 17, and he cleared waivers today which meant a return to the San Diego organization. He is back in camp with the Padres.

Baseball News:

• Free agent outfielder Michael Conforto and the Chicago Cubs agreed on a minor league deal.
• It has been announced that Detroit Tigers ace, Tarik Skubal, will make just one start for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
• Japanese infielder Kazuma Okamoto, who signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, recorded his first home run and RBI of the spring.
• It is almost time for fantasy baseball drafts and Corbin Young of Yahoo.com provides some insight on 2026 trends you need to know before your draft.

Good morning.

Shawn McFarland writes about the Texas Rangers winning their Cactus League game yesterday and hitting their first home run of the spring.

McFarland writes about yesterday’s starter Jack Leiter and how the Rangers hope more efficient innings will be the next step in further unlocking his full potential.

Kennedi Landry writes about Evan Carter and his quest to stay healthy and change the narrative about his availability.

Evan Grant writes that Wyatt Langford appears to be on the cusp of superstardom so the clock is ticking for the Rangers to lock him up long term.

Jeff Wilson takes an initial stab at predicting the roster that we could see the Rangers roll with come Opening Day in March.

With clubhouse culture a big topic this spring, Grant provides an anecdote about Corey Seager playing for laughs by imitating Brandon Nimmo during yesterday’s game.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s Buster Olney ranks Seager as the game’s fifth best shortstop heading into the upcoming season.

CBS Sports’ Matt Snyder has the rotation for the Rangers as the fourth best in the game heading into the 2026 campaign.

Grant notes that the Rangers added to their international signing class via a loophole that allowed them to sign Breyner Figuereo, brother of Gleider Figuereo.

And, McFarland writes about outfield farmhand Braylin Morel as the 29th best prospect on the DMN top 30 prospects list.

Have a nice day!

Well, that’s the name they went with. Remember when everyone was excited about Wandavision? Are you more or less excited about this? What about just this name? In any case, read on. Or, just go here, which has all the details that I’ll attempt to summarize: https://www.mlb.com/braves/schedule/watch.

Basically, BravesVision is the new, wholly-Braves-owned media home for the team. Since chances are that you are reading this to understand how you can watch the Braves in 2026, let’s go through the options, based on the information provided in the above link.

• Cable or satellite. BravesVision is a direct-to-distributor model, so it will work just like Bally Sports/FanDuel used to in this regard. Your current cable/satellite provider is currently negotiating with the Braves on fees for adding BravesVision to their list of channel offerings. If they successfully negotiate, then you’ll have access to BravesVision (possibly within your tier, or you’ll have to change tiers, I don’t know, I haven’t had cable in decades). If not, you’ll need to use another option. Things like YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV are probably in a similar boat: they can either successfully negotiate to have BravesVision, or not.
• Over the air. As mentioned before, some but not all games will be simulcast on Gray Media. There’s a handy map identifying the over-the-air Gray Media station for a given locality at the link above. This won’t cover every game the Braves play, but it is something.
• In-market streaming. In addition to the direct-to-distributor offering, the Braves are also offering a direct-to-consumer channel called Braves.TV. Basically, this is essentially the single-team MLB.tv package, but Braves-branded. There are no blackouts when you buy this, but, see the next clause: this is an in-market package only. In other words, if you were blacked out because you lived in the Braves’ “home broadcast area” per the MLB.tv regional map, you can use this to get every non-national broadcast Braves game. Yay for you. You can also upgrade your subscription to include all the out-of-market MLB.tv games, too, if you want all Braves games and basically every other game, too. I don’t know anything about pricing at this time, but it’ll likely be comparable to other single-team MLB.tv packages, a la ~$20 per month. It is unclear exactly how stringent the offering structure is going to be — will you be able to get Braves.tv if you live not that far outside the Braves’ region per the blackout map? I have no idea, stay tuned! Theoretically, the Braves aren’t supposed to sell a direct-to-consumer streaming option to people living outside their local rights footprint, but… it’s a digital transaction with a login. Will they inadvertently or purposefully end up doing so anyway? Anyway, there’s no link to sign up yet, but stay tuned.
• Out-of-market streaming. Nothing has changed here. MLB.tv will still carry all Braves games, but will black out any games in your local market. For me, that’s Red Sox games. For you, it might be something else. Actually, I lied: what has changed is the insane rigmarole that ESPN absorbing MLB.tv is now imposing on folks that want to subscribe to MLB.tv for the first time. But, if you already have MLB.tv, then nothing has really changed for you.

Does that cover everything? What questions do you have?

Probably the key thing here for the Braves financially is that BravesVision is apparently owned (and possibly wholly owned?) by the Braves. While we don’t know exactly what this means for the franchise financially at this point, it does open up opportunities that they didn’t previously have in terms of revenue and profit — including earnings based on their in-market TV rights that would not be subject to the league’s revenue sharing requirements.

Anyway, stay tuned, but hopefully the above was helpful. Theoretically, there should be more clarity on deals with distributors as we hurtle towards Opening Day.

Meet the Mets

The Mets topped the defending American League Champion Blue Jays 4-3 to earn their second spring win. Newcomer Tobias Myers earned the win in his first outing with the club after pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Vidal Bruján did leave the game with an injury after stealing second base.

Clay Holmes, who started yesterday’s game for the Mets and threw 57 pitches over 3 2/3 innings, talked about being recruited to the join Team USA in the WBC by ex-Yankee Andy Pettitte.

Juan Soto is determined to become the first Mets’ MVP, and even more determined to steal the crown from perpetual winner Shohei Ohtani, saying, “I’ve got to find a way to beat him.”

Darryl Strawberry was ‘shocked’ that Pete Alonso left the Mets, and believes the former Mets’ first baseman will regret the decision to leave New York. Strawberry, who made a similar move in his career and has noted his own regret at leaving New York, said he disagreed with Alonso’s decision.

Speaking of ex-Mets, Brandon Nimmo squashed any claims of their being clubhouse issues with the 2025 squad.

It looks like former Mets beat writer Adam Rubin has lobby for a job with the Pirates as their new Director of Communications.

Around the National League East

Ronald Acuña Jr. has returned to the leadoff spot for the Braves.

Mark Bowman shared some early observations from Braves camp.

David Murphy of the Philadelphia Inquirer talked about the breakouts the Phillies need in 2026.

Paul Cubbage of Federal Baseball discussed the anti-fastball revolution that is taking hold in Washington.

Around Major League Baseball

The MLB.com staff identified one dark horse candidate to make their club for each of the 30 MLB teams.

Thomas Harrigan picked ten players who are primed to rebound.

Buster Olney compiled a list of the top ten third basemen in baseball, with Bo Bichette coming in at seventh.

Jeff Kent ended up answering a call he believed was a spam call, only for it to be Johnny Bench on the other end of the line.

Bryce Harper dished on MLB’s number one prospect, Pittsburgh’s Konnor Griffin, whom he said will be a ‘stud’.

Brewers assistant GM Will Hudgins discussed the science of measuring players for the ABS system, which is difficult because, “People shrink over the course of a day”. Hudgins is Milwaukee’s point person on ABS.

In the loss to the Mets, Kazuma Okamoto hit his first home run as a member of the Blue Jays.

José Ramírez hit a no-doubt-about-it home run one at-bat after being denied in spring action yesterday.

The Yankees are confident that top prospect George Lombard Jr.’s bat can catch up to his MLB-ready glove.

Michael Massey of the Royals studied physics and talked to a pilot in an effort to fix his swing.

Colson Montgomery of the White Sox, who was an ex-Indiana baseball recruit, learned a lesson in the Hoosier football’s title run

Michael McGreevy of the Cardinals was convinced the baseballs were different this year, until he learned they were batting practice balls.

Coming off a year in which he earned a World Series ring as a member of the Dodgers, old friend Michael Conforto has signed a minor league deal with the Cubs. Chicago skipper Craig Counsell spoke about his team’s latest signing.

Alex Vesia felt the love from fans in an emotional return to the mound.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Chris McShane previewed Nate Lavender’s 2026 campaign, while Linus Lawrence did the same for catcher Ben Rortvedt.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1966, Tom Seaver signed a $40,000 deal with the Braves, a contract that was later nullified by Commissioner William Eckert, who said Seaver was ineligible to sign because he played two exhibition games earlier in the year with his collegiate baseball team. One year later, he was a Met, and the rest is history.